I like making food at home, where I know my kitchen and ingredients.
I have a several things I make often, and while
I sometimes make new things it's all a bit familiar. So when I'm on a
vacation in a rental house, one thing I enjoy is cooking. It's a bit
of a challenge, perhaps suitable for a low-stakes cooking show, but
it's fun to see what I can make with the constraints:
What pans are there? Do they have any sneaky downsides?
What non-perishable ingredients are left over from previous
visitors?
What's the minimum I can buy at the store to combine with
what's already there and make something good?
If we went to the store a few days ago and it's not worth going
again, what's a good fit for the collection of things we have left?
What can I substitute for measuring cups? How can I calibrate
them?
If I would normally make a recipe one way, but we don't have
some of the ingredients, what would make good substitutes?
One constraint I don't enjoy is knives that have been treated quite
badly. One way I'll "cheat" is that (when I remember) I'll bring
along a knife sharpener. I'll also sometimes bring an instant read
thermometer, and somewhat unusual dry ingredients (ex: flax [1]) that I
need small quantities of.
This morning I made raspberry chocolate chip muffins (recipe):
This involved using an unlabeled measuring cup that might have been
either 1/4C or 1/3C (which I treated as 1/4C and used for everything,
even the 2.5C flour), substituting extra baking powder for the baking
soda, and bigger chocolate chips than usual. They were tasty!
[1] Lately I've been using flax as an egg substitute a lot; Lily
doesn't eat eggs anymore. I used 2.5T water and 1T flax per egg. It
works well in the raspberry muffins, ok in crepes, and very poorly in
brownies.
Your comment about flax eggs is very validating to me; I used them once, to make vegan brownies when I did the Seven-Day Vegan Challenge, and they were not good. I’ve now updated substantially in favor of trying them for recipes like muffins!
I like making food at home, where I know my kitchen and ingredients. I have a several things I make often, and while I sometimes make new things it's all a bit familiar. So when I'm on a vacation in a rental house, one thing I enjoy is cooking. It's a bit of a challenge, perhaps suitable for a low-stakes cooking show, but it's fun to see what I can make with the constraints:
What pans are there? Do they have any sneaky downsides?
What non-perishable ingredients are left over from previous visitors?
What's the minimum I can buy at the store to combine with what's already there and make something good?
If we went to the store a few days ago and it's not worth going again, what's a good fit for the collection of things we have left?
What can I substitute for measuring cups? How can I calibrate them?
If I would normally make a recipe one way, but we don't have some of the ingredients, what would make good substitutes?
One constraint I don't enjoy is knives that have been treated quite badly. One way I'll "cheat" is that (when I remember) I'll bring along a knife sharpener. I'll also sometimes bring an instant read thermometer, and somewhat unusual dry ingredients (ex: flax [1]) that I need small quantities of.
This morning I made raspberry chocolate chip muffins (recipe):
This involved using an unlabeled measuring cup that might have been either 1/4C or 1/3C (which I treated as 1/4C and used for everything, even the 2.5C flour), substituting extra baking powder for the baking soda, and bigger chocolate chips than usual. They were tasty!
[1] Lately I've been using flax as an egg substitute a lot; Lily doesn't eat eggs anymore. I used 2.5T water and 1T flax per egg. It works well in the raspberry muffins, ok in crepes, and very poorly in brownies.